Federal control of all availability and pricing. Keep the youngsters mellow, very mellow.

I get the Libertarian arguments on this, but...
- This is not your father´s pot... It is powerful stuff these days. And naturally, immunity is built up over use. But one good toke of the current crop is sufficient for many of us old timers.
- I understand for mature, over the age of 25, adults, that the ´´harmful´´ effects are lethargy and munchies. Not a show stopper. But for growing brains, I hear that marijuana does real damage, seriously harming growing, teen and young adult brains. This should be thoroughly investigated by Fed´s Food and Drug people, and widely publicized if true.

If legalized, expect usage to triple. No judgement here, but that´s what we saw when we ended Prohibition. Tax revenues? Risible.

The future of drug abuse is more likely with ´mothers´ little helpers´ - tranquilizers and pain killers - made reasonably efficiently - even legally -in Mexico (along with Meth these days). These are much easier to smuggle in than are bails of weed.

Don´t forget depression and suicidal tendencies. All those NYU suicides came after smoking pot. In Iran the mullahs may ban alcohol but drugs are freely available for a compliant nation.

If legalized, perhaps we could let 25% of our prison population go home (oh, that might affect unemployment...).

The police could go back to arresting violent criminals (but they would lose all that spiffy ´drug enforcement´ equipment).

Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Sandoz Pharmaceuticals could insure safety and quality (or maybe R.J. Reynolds, Ligget & Myers, and Philip Morris), adding thousands of jobs to the economy.

Courts could get back to enforcing the Constitution instead of the Women´s Christian Temperance Union rules (yeah, right -- in my dreams...).

As the past election proves, there is little chance that there will be an outbreak of common sense and sanity.

Pot is one of the many tools of Darwin.

I keep hearing about all these ´non-violent´ drug offender. Here in my conservative small town the cops only give you a ticket for less than an ounce of weed. I guess they send dealers up but not for a first offense.

The son of a friend of mine ended up doing some time but he had taken up dealing meth and had been caught before and received probation. He also had a pistol in his car.

Tobacco companies have practically been sued and taxed out of existence. Large soft drinks must be outlawed for the sake of our health. Keep the Twinkies away from the children! But pot is okay?
I don´t get it. The world has gone mad.

One point not made here - when nonviolent offenders get a criminal record for marijuana possession, they can no longer qualify for most jobs. So, a person serves his time, gets clean...and then what? When he can´t find a job or can´t rent an apartment because of his record, he goes back to his druggie friends and they take him in. Then he goes back on the stuff, perhaps doing some robberies to pay for his habit. Then back to jail, back to rehab, finish the sentence, back on the streets, still can´t get a job...see the cycle?

In contrast, when a person has been addicted to alcohol and goes through rehab, society doesn´t permanently block him from getting a job or renting an apartment. To a large extent, we create our underclass by these vindictive sentences - no, I´m not talking about 6 months for possession, I´m talking about a lifetime record interfering with employment and housing.

A drug is a drug is a drug - and weed is just as bad as any other. Recreational drugs are killers and need to be stopped. Legalizing this crap is dangerous - one acquaintance of mine was killed when he was smoking it and thought he could drive on thin air and crashed down on other cars and killed several people. Sane people don´t do anything that is not prescribed by doctors for a painful surgery or broken bones.

Marijuana use or possession of small amounts is, usually, a petty offense or a misdemeanor. A conviction of that sort is hardly a "life sentence." The argument that someone who paid a $50.oo fine on a petty offense cannot get a job thereafter is a ludicrous one. Nor are there any pot smokers in the Big House. Such sentences are reserved for dealers.
Enough with the urban myths.

A kid I coached in baseball just got expelled from his senior year in high school and is facing criminal charges after getting caught up in dealing the ganja.

Is that an argument for continuing the failed drug war? Heck no. Like Steyn says, "Big government doesn´t just waste money, it wastes people".

This could will probably go to jail for selling something people choose to consume. What a waste.

oops...that´s "kid" not "could". I must be suffering from Post Election Stress Disorder.

I used to live across the street from a young Iraq War vet. He was fighting for custody of his infant son because the baby´s mom was a meth head. He told me his family mental health counselor had advised him to stay away from weed. The stuff that´s out now has been linked to schizophrenia in some individuals.

I´ve also known individuals with ADHD who claimed they smoked it regularly. The pot seemed to make their condition worse, not better.

Even if there weren´t any major negatives to pot smoking, I´d hate to be on the road with stoned drivers. Drunks are enough of a problem.

Talk to counselors in drug rehabs. Kids start out with pot, and for about 1/2, they are really hooked. Soon, it isn´t enough to be mellow, so they add alcohol to the pot for a buzz. When that is not enough, they move on, to cocaine, meth, heroin..whatever they can get their hands on. It is a gateway drug. What I described happened to a close family member..Do not take pot lightly.

Medicinal and recreational. How about religious?

Slippery slope...

This will be a nightmare for employers. Do you want a stoned employee operating machinery ? How about filling your prescription ? Teaching your child ?

Pot took the life of two friends...pot first, then with alcohol, then onto cocaine, crack, meth. It destroyed several other friends´ lives-their families broken up and careers wiped out for many years. Every single one wound up in jail before thirty. Every single one who made it had to get sobriety through a group. Some are permanently disabled, either physically or mentally, or both.
Now my 17 year old nephew found the gateway and is well on his way to bigger and better highs.

Libertarians drive me batty with these foolish arguments in favor of legalizing this dangerous drug. If it was one of their own loved ones starting on that path, I wonder how hippie-dippie they´d all be about pot.

Paternalists ... think government should restrict your soft-drink intake. Tobacco smokers are the new Untouchables. But marijuana has a countercultural vibe and is not sold by huge multinational corporations—at least not legal ones, at least not yet. So even though it is bad for you, many progressives do not see much wrong with it.

Is reefer bad for you? Most likely.

Is it the government´s business? If you´re conservative, HELL NO! If you´re a "Paternalist" (what a nice name for a proponent of the Nanny State) then yeah, probably.

There are a lot of ´´externalities´´ (social impacts) associated with weed (driving, work performance, etc.) so the issue goes well beyond mere paternalism.

What people smoke is none of the government´s business. Fortunately, the government is so broke it soon will have no resources for such foolishness. Pot is not meth, not heroin, not alcohol, not tobacco. Leave it alone.

Would this be the administration of the Choom King?

Are they going to let the cartels set up legal shops in these states?

#16. - you are exactly right. I work with PhD and doctoral/master´s degree candidates and I´ve learned from them that the chemicals in pot ( and even the nicotine in cigarettes) are highly addictive and actually change the chemistry in Young, growing brains. It is for sure a gateway drug as the user seeks to increase the dopamine levels to keep reaching that initial high as tolerance develops.

I kind of think Obama and his thus want us to be "comfortably numb." Scary times.

Thugs, that is . . ,

Because it´s illegal, it´s easier for kids to buy weed than beer. That´s because a dealer has no incentive to check IDs. Alcohol, on the other hand, is sold in stores that have to pay a lot for a license to sell it, and are thus motivated not to get caught selling to minors.

The folks at Reason supported Obama in 2008 and 2012 chiefly because they wanted Marijuana legalized. They occasionally still come out with vague, incoherent endorsements of Free Markets, but this generally gets lost in all the chooming over there. On all other issues they are off-the-assembly-line leftists.